Process of preparing bodies containing rubber and fiber.



' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

'FREDERICK M. EKERT, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented Nov. 13, 1906.

Application filed May 28, 1906- Serial No. 319,095.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. EKERT, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of'Preparing Bodies Containing Rubber and Fiber, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relatesto a method of producing compositions of matter wherein rubber or similar gum-like material and fibrous material are employed as ingredients thereof, and has for its object to so intermingle these ingredients as to produce a body wherein the binding effects of the fiber will be retained by preserving the fiber substantially intact. Such a body with the employment of suitable fibrous material, will withstand saturated or superheated steam, even under higher temperatures and pressures than now exist in modern industrial arts, as well as resist acids and alkalies and the passage of electric currents under high tension. Asbestos has been recognized as a desirable ingredient to mingle with rubber in the production of bodies for various purposes ut the methods of mingling these ingredients heretofore practiced have been ineffective to produce bodies having the higher-resisting qualities referred to. I have found thatzin order to render the body much denser, stronger, and higher resisting it is absolutely necessary to preserve the fibrous condition of the asbestos or similar high-resisting fibrous ingredient.- This I accomplish by thoroughly intermingling the rubber or gum-like material and the fibrous material in a dry condition, which can be done to excellent advantage by my hereinafterdescribed new dry process. To assist in this mixing, I may add to the rubber andfibrous material resin or other material which will produce like effects, the purpose of which is to make the rubber more plastic and more easily worked, allow larger compounding of the ingredients, and insure a thorough mixture of the ingredients and an intimate combination of the molecules thereof. I form a base of rubber and high-resisting fibrous material, such as asbestos mingled in a dry condition, and to this base may be added various other ingredients, according to the use to which the manufactured goods are to be applied. For many purposes pore-filling material, such as described in my Patent No. 802,377 issued October 24, 1905, will be preferred, and the rubber and fiber will generally be vulcanized, requiring the addition of a vulcanizing agent, such as sulfur, in suitable proportion to produce anyidesired vulcanization. Still other ingredients-may be added, according to the price, quality, or use to which the body may be app ied.

Prior to my invention the universal method of roducing, fiber containing compounds wit fibrous structure has been by the wet i irot ess. In carrying out this process the her -as, for instance, asbestos fiberis mixed in suitable vessels with rubber in solution. The pasty mass thus formed is placed in molds or between plates or rolls in order to press or squeeze out the liquid and form a body. The consequent steps of drying and manipulating make the process complicated and very costly, while the goods produced are of inferior quality on account of the uneven distribution of the fiber therein and the practically limited amount of rubber, rubber in a certain quantity being essential to insure the proper elasticity and coherence of the goods. Furthermore, fiber compounds produced by the wet process are not dense, but porous, absorb liquids freely, and consequently are not of high resisting quality.

The only other manner by which fiber and rubber have heretofore been mixed was by means of mixing-machines embodying differential rolls, wherein certain ingredients were mechanically incorporated with the dry rubber between steel rolls, such as are ordinarily employed by rubber factories. The construction of these machines, however, is such as to pull the fiber to pieces, finally reducing it to dust, while the friction developed by the grinding action of the rolls destroys the fibrous condition of the asbestos before it is incorporated into the rubber. Moreover, the heat prevents the addition of any considerable quantity of asbestos or any other materials, causing the combustion of the whole compound, which soon crumbles to a worthless mass.

As the first step of my process I prefer to 7 break down the rubber or gum-like material mechanically on a mixing-machine to a dry,

coherent, elastic, and somewhat viscous mass material into the rubber quickly and softly, ractically without any friction, in a machine iiaving rolls driven at an equal speed, which do not disintegrate the fiber, and, furthermore, as another very important feature of my process I kee the parts and the mixture entirely cool whi e being mixed.

Suliur will generally be employed in the compounds produced by my process. This is added to the rubber, preferably after the same is broken down and before the addition of any other ingredient, After the sulfur has been well mixed with the rubber the resin (such as rosin and gums, as gum-mastic) i5 is added, preferably in powdered form, in about the proportions setjorth in my Patent No. 802,377 and mixed with the rubber and sulfur batch.- To this mass of rubber, sulfur, and rosin is added the fibrous material, as asbestos, which is pressed intothe said massby passing the mass and the fiber through the even-motion rolls. By adding the ingredients in the order set forth and I squeezing the; fiber intothe mass 1: am able to incor orate-lar e quantities of fibrous map terral 1nto the ru ber-wlthout burmn the rubber, without disintegrating the fi rous .material and without causing deterioration,

of the com oundQ Whilegood results, may

0; be obtaine by adding the resin with the asbestos or other fiber, it is preferable to add the resin first, as it better facilitates the. inix ing of the fiber and the rubber. After, the incorporation ofthe sulfur and fiber, or fiberv alone into the rubber any other ingredients,

pore-fillers, &c., may be added in suitable quantities, as (pointed out in my Patent, No; 802,377, issue October 24, 1905,. By my manner of reparing the rubber for the reception of t e sulfur, fiber, andother in redients the physical roperties of the rub er arepracticallyfuna ected, and it retains its quality of coherence, enabling it to form a strong, coherent, high resisting mass with rocess, towhich reference has been made 5o eretofore the objectionable features. of

. which have been pointed out. To make any fiber compound capable of I being worked still more easily when being mixed with rubber by my dry process, Imay i use inp'lace of or besides resins limited uantities of another emollientsuchas 0i y or fatty matters, wax parafiin, tar; pitch, as

water-repellent, as well as increase the insuthe fibrous material and to permit latter. to be incorporated therewrth in extremely large quantities. 'This manner oftreating the rubber is totally different from'the wet.

compoun s of rubber or similar gumelike ma= sas es latin qualities ,of the goods, ,asdo pitch and tar-li e materials in a similar degree. Glycerin, for example, as an ingredient assists in repelling oil, which adapts it better for use in high-resisting packing for piston-rods where- 7c in oil is employed as a lubricant. As the use a i of any of these ingredients and of resins in large proportions decreases the tensile strength and elasticity of the goodsand makes it difiicult as a manufacturing proposition to 7 5 mix them with the other ingredients, they should be used in small or very moderate proportions. 7 Important features of my inyentionconsist in thesqueezing of the fiber evenly into the rubber or similar gum-like material practically without friction and taking the steps of the process in the. order, name as these preserve the fiber in ,a Vfibrous bondition .withoutthe necessity for any-turther complicated manipulation.

w Having thus described my invention, I

- claim 1. The process of producing com ,o unds of rubber or-similar gum-like materia and fiber c which consists mingling the rubber and the fiber in a dry condition while preserving thefibrous condition o f,,the fiber andtthe coherence of, the rubber, substantially as specified.

2. ,Thaprocess of producing compounds of rubber orsimilar gum-like material, and fiber, which. consists in roducing the. mbber to a dry, coherent, elastic andsomewhat Viscous niass and then. ressing the fiber, ,into this 10 ,mass, substantia I as specified. 3. The .process of producing compounds of rubber or similar. gum-like material and-fiber which consists in softening the rubber without, destroyin thecoherence thereof, min I gling therewit sulfur forvulcanigatiomand, mingling the softened rubber,v and sulfur fibrous asbestos or. simila1 ,fibrousgnaterial while preserving the ,fibrous. condition ,of, the fi sb antielly ssre i II 4. The pr pce'ssiof producing compounds of rubber 9 S m m ke.mete ia s n -fi whicirconsis'ts in min ling the ingr ed i ents in'a y conditionand jeepin the mass 'cool 'at the same time so mingling t e ingredients, 1 1 while preserving the. ,fibrous condition of. the fiber and the coherence otthe. rubber, substantially as specified.

5. The rocess of producing vulcanizable I2 terials and fiber, whichconsists infirst mix- I in rubberand sulfur in a dry condition then mixing with the mass thus formed fiberin a dry condition, while preseryingtheufibrous piogdition ofthe fiber, substantially as., speci 6; The aprocess of producing yulcanizable compoun of rubber or similar gumlike materials and asbestos .WhiQh- GORSiStS in first mixing rubber and sulfur in a dry-condition,

then mixing the mass thus formed with asbestos also in a dry condition, substantially as specified.

7. The rocess of producing vulcanizable compoun s of rubber, or similar gum-like material and fiber, which consists in mingling in a dry condition, rubber, sulfur and. fiber,

maintaining the rnass cool during the minling of the ingredients, and preserving the brous condition of the fiber, substantially as specified.

8. The rocess of producing vulcanizable compoun s of rubber or similar gum-like materials and fiber which consists in mingling in a dry condition, rubber, sulfur and fiber, in

its fibrous condition, in the presence of an emollient, substantially as specified.

9. The process of producing compounds of rubber or similar gum-like material and fiber, which consists in mingling such in edients in a dry condition, in the presence of an emollient, while preserving the fibrous condition or the fiber, and keeping the mass cool during such mingling, substantially as specified.

10. The process of producing vulcanizablev compounds of rubber or similar material and fiber which consists in adding to the rubber,

sulfur, resin and fiber in the order named in a dry condition, and after each addi-. tion, substantially as specified.

1 1. The process of producing compounds of rubber or similar gum-like material with fiber which consists in mingling in a dry condition rubber, sulfur, fiber, in its fibrous condition, and pore-filling materials in the presence of an emollient, substantially as specified.

12. The process of producing compounds of rubber, or similar gum like material with high resisting fiber, which consists in causing the same to commingle in a dry condition by an even pressure on opposite sides thereof,

substantially as specifie 13. The process of producing compounds of rubber or similar gum-like material with fiber which consists in reducing the rubber to a dry, coherent, elastic andsomewhat viscous mass, adding thereto the fiber, and passing the fiber and rubber through even-motion rolls, substantially as specified.

14: The process of producing vulcanizable compounds of rubber or similar gum-like material with fiber which consists in adding to the rubber, sulfur and resin or similar emollient, in the order named and mixing after each addition, then adding fiber to the mass thus formed and passing the mass and fiber through even-motion rolls, substantially as specified. 4

15. The process of producing compounds of rubber, or similar gum-like material, with fiber, which consists in softening the rubber without destroying its coherent qualities, adding the fiber thereto, and causing the rubber and fiber to commingle lo substantially even pressures in o posite ections, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the resence of two witnesses.

- F EDERICK M. EKERT. Witnesses:

JEssIE L. FAIRCHILD, Rosoon T. STANTER. 

